The goal of this project is to study the hydrolysis reactions of highly reactive epoxides to diols and other rearranged products. Knowledge of the mechanisms of these reactions is especially important in the area of carcinogenesis of unsaturated organic compounds. Various unsaturated organic materials are metabolized to epoxides in biological systems, and it is now thought that it is the intermediate epoxide that is responsible for the carcinogenic nature of the original organic compound. We plan to conduct product analyses and isotope effect studies on the hydrolysis of indene oxide as a function of pH, solvent composition, and added salts in order to understand in detail the types of reactions that this epoxide undergoes in aqueous solution. An understanding of these reactions in simple aqueous systems will aid in the understanding of the reactions of carcinogenic epoxides under biological conditions.